DMK nominee nabbed in Puducherry, Karunanidhi orders probe

A DMK nominee was arrested on Wednesday on criminal charges in Puducherry when he was waiting to meet party patriarch M Karunanidhi, who has sought an explanation as to how this person got the clearance to contest polls.

A DMK nominee was arrested on Wednesday on criminal charges in Puducherry when he was waiting to meet party patriarch M Karunanidhi, who has sought an explanation as to how this person got the clearance to contest polls.

The candidate, AK Ramesh, the DMK nominee to contest in Puducherry’s Thattanchanvadi constituency, has more than 10 cases of murder, rioting and land grab against him in the union territory and Tamil Nadu. He has also been barred from entering Puducherry.

Puducherry police have lodged him in jail. The saving grace for the DMK was that Ramesh could be arrested before he filed his nomination papers.

Ramesh was waiting at a hotel to meet Karunanidhi, to thank him for fielding him as the party’s nominee when a police inspector spotted him and alerted his superiors. The inspector and his team were then directed to arrest Ramesh once Karunanidhi left the hotel.

Within minutes of the chief minister’s departure, police nabbed and produced Ramesh before a local magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody.

Angered no end, the DMK supremo quickly ordered the party to come up with an alternative candidate. And in no time, he zeroed in on A Elango.

Puducherry, along with Kerala and Tamil Nadu, goes to polls on April 13. The union territory has a 30-member house. The ruling Congress has entered into a seat agreement with the DMK, which will fight in 10 seats.